I got a call today from an old friend I haven’t seen for awhile. He asked me how I made my living and I told him I was a professional photographer, specializing in weddings and related photography (engagement, maternity). He mentioned that he’d just gotten married and wished he’d known I was a photographer. Because he still lives on the east coast, where I grew up, I told him it was understandable that he didn’t find me online (since Google has now confined most web searches to the area closest to the user’s neighborhood, as determined by their IP addresses). He told me he found a photographer on craigslist and I was ready for the horror story. Sure enough, the photographer he found offered an unbeatable price, and all images on DVDs…but the pictures ranged from average to terrible. I asked him if the person he hired used any off-camera flash, or knew how to arrange groups and anticipate modern wedding moments. He said no; the guy didn’t even have a flash at all! Not wanting to cause my friend any more grief, I told him he’d gotten what he paid for and he’d probably saved enough money on photography that he must’ve had a really nice honeymoon 🙂 What I really wanted to tell him was he’d completely wasted his money! Yes, there are a plethora of inexpensive photographers out there and yes, a few of them use sites like craigslist and facebook to advertise their services. But a wedding day is a unique event in most people’s lifetime. Skimping on the photographer just doesn’t make any sense if you’re having a wedding where everything else is memorable (venue, caterer, wine, DJ, etc).

That’s my rant for the day :~}. There are plenty of folks out there with decent digital cameras. Wedding photography, however, is a profession and, like any other profession, it pays to hire a professional.